Friday, April 3, 2009

The Big Trip

So as I have metioned before, we are leaving India in 2 short months to head back to Blighty. We both asked for and have been given 6 months unpaid leave from our jobs (yay the downturn!) so we are planning to leave Delhi and head back to the UK overland.

Sex and the Central Asian Visa.

Wow there are some countries that just don't seem to want tourists. But we're getting there. So we are now proud owners of tourist visas for Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. We have applied for Tajikistan and are expecting it this week. China should be easy, but is valid from the second they put it in your passport. Pakistan required 3 visits to the embassy on sequential days, so no chance until work is finished. Then there's just Iran and Turkmeinistan to worry about. Iran we're on some kind of waiting clearance list, and expect an answer sometime towards the end of April. TM is tricky tricky and we may have to pay for a guided tour or suchlike.

And then we have a plan - YAY! And even though I may well sound like a wanky traveller type, I'm going to share it with you anyway.

April 30th - finish work. WOOHOO

May - keep the flat in Delhi but go on lots of trips. Probably a trekking trip in the Himalayas and maybe a few days in the Maldives. Maybe even a quick trip back to the UK to deposit my engagement ring (not entirely sure the Stans, as I've come to lovingly know them through the visa application process, are the safest place for an uninsured diamond)

June - set off for home. The route will go India-Pakistan-China-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey-side trip into Georgia for T's birthday-back to Turkey-Greece.... I'm not sure how far into Europe you get before you start seeing 'Waterloo' as a destination on trains... I guess we'll spend some time island hopping, I fancy Croatia, he has a friend in Italy, I guess France, then we're home!

October - arrive home. Giving us one month to choose somewhere in London to live, buy a house and Get Sorted. Easy.

Nov 1 - start back at work.

Crikey that's a long trip!

4 comments:

elizabeth said...

What an amazing trip!!! I lived in the Himalayas for a couple years, and always intended to head toward Europe overland, but it never worked out. Soooo cool that you are doing that! I'll look forward to reading about your adventures.

the un-bride said...

I am so jealous of your travel plans. Please keep posting so we can follow your adventures!

Marie said...

I went to Turkmenistan at the beginning of the year. Any thing you want to know let me know and I will offer as much info as possible! Plus the trip sounds amazing and I am very jealous!

Marie said...

I went for business so haven't got that much to impart, except it's wierd! Ashgabat that you see first off is all new, wide open and there are very few people, anywhere. We did get to go and see Turkmenbashy's mausoleum which was incredible and huge. And we did get a little way out of Ashgabat. People are friendly though, although it helps if you speak some Russian. I found that reading up about it they all recommended having a guide as I think it's still quite corrupt and if you're in the wrong area without the requisite visa/authorisation etc you could be in big trouble. You also will be watched and listened to when you're there, especially in hotels etc. I think for now that's it. I'll try and put a couple of pictures up but would definitely recommend trying to get there if you can!